But Sweeney said Friday he didn't file because he assumed the account had been mothballed months ago.

In a Nov. 1 letter, the FEC warned Sweeney that his failure to file by the Oct. 15 quarterly deadline could trigger "civil money penalties, an audit or legal enforcement action."

Sweeney for Congress, which currently lists Sweeney as treasurer, otherwise appears to have filed the required quarterly reports each year since the Clifton Park Republican's 2006 loss to Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.

The warning, first reported on Friday by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, comes after federal elections officials earlier this year blocked Sweeney's bid to close his penniless campaign committee, citing close to a quarter-million dollars in unpaid debts.

According to Sweeney's April filing, his campaign has no cash on hand but is still has more than $223,000 in outstanding bills to various vendors — the largest of which is $118,000 to a New Jersey company for campaign mail expenses.

The two largest local debts are $22,000 to Success Magazine Ltd. in Clifton Park and nearly $17,700 to X Press Info Solutions in Albany for printing, according to his campaign's FEC filings.

Representatives for the companies did not return calls for comment Friday.

Sweeney, a former state Labor Department commissioner who served four terms in the House of Representatives, said he first learned of the FEC's letter on Friday when contacted by the Times Union. He said he had assumed the FEC had terminated the account following his June closure filing.

Sweeney said he didn't receive the FEC's July denial of that request or the Nov. 1 warning letter — possibly, he said, because he believes he no longer has the Clifton Park post office box to which they were sent.

"I was operating under the assumption that it was closed. I consider it a nullity," Sweeney said, noting he has not been raising or spending money. "I wasn't aware that they had rejected our request to close, so I'm going to have to look into that."

Sweeney in recent years has spoken candidly about his battle with alcoholism and subsequent recovery and has been working to rebuild a client base for his law practice, handling numerous local election law cases.

Asked about his options for raising the cash to pay the debts, Sweeney said dryly, "I guess I could run for office."